Waylon Jennings Album: “Music Man/Black on Black [Remaster]”

I ordered this cd because I hadn't heard these albums in years. I'm glad I did, since there are a number of songs that I enjoy. That being said, however, I would certainly first recommend any of Waylon's music from the late 60's to around 1976. This cd is truly a hit-and-miss affair, and unfortunately the misses slightly outnumber the hits. Among the things coming out since his recent death, the expanded Live cd is essential. "Music Man/Black on Black" is fine, but if you don't already have plenty of Waylon in your collection, you should start someplace else, like "Honky Tonk Heroes," "This Time," or "Dreaming My Dreams."

Waylon Jennings was a master when it came to his song selection, musical arrangements, instrumentation and songwriting. Unfortunately this recording does not reflect his best work. While I bought the disc to include it in my Waylon collection, I was disappointed with the packaging itself.

My biggest disappointment with the packaging is what was NOT included: NO "musicians" list, NO documented original graphics, NO producer list, and NO list of songs and their writers. These facts are very important to me both personally and as one who has the utmost respect for producers, musicians and the songwriters.

My other disappointment ... who on earth was the author of the "opinion" commentary they included in the booklet? The opinion is riddled with misspellings and unimportant/inaccurate facts! If I wanted some unknown columnist's opinion, I would read Rolling Stone magazine or read the online blogs. I don't need to pay good money for someone to opinionize on Waylon's decision to include a Kenny Rogers cover as well as a cover of Steely Dan's "Do It Again." I wanted to know about who played on the Dukes of Hazzard theme song. I wanted to know what musicians were included on each recording. This opinion writer couldn't even spell HAZZARD or Uncle JESSE's name right in the text!

Some people may think my criticism is too harsh or nitpicking, but if you want a good comparison, please buy and review Waylon Jenning's "Are You Ready For the Country" CD. I own the original recording on vinyl LP. They masterfully reproduced all original pictures, commentary, musician lists and history of the making of the album.

Music Man / Black on Black should be domestically released. Amazon and other retails should boycott selling of this German import and encourage record companies to release this domestically and in the usual good quality manner.

Thank you for reading my commentary. Ray :)

The Good News: This excellent two-fer combines two of Jenning's best 80s albums, unavailable elsewhere on CD. The highlights are too many to mention, hardly a less-than-great track on this set. I had actually overlooked 'Black on Black' when it originally came out, but rediscovering it now is wonderful. And I've always loved 'Music Man'. You really can't go wrong with Ol' Hoss, and we fans owe our thanks to the U.K. company that put this out there (and another good two-fer, 'Are You Ready.../What Goes Around', the latter also unavailable previously on CD.)

The Bad News: This set came out in 2003, and as of this writing is out of stock. I think you can find it from a German company on the web for about $80, if you've got that kind of money.

The Good News Again: I waited (im)patiently, kept checking back, and was just able to pick up an excellent hardly-used copy for under $10, shipping and all! Plays 100% perfectly. Thanks, Amazon and seller goHastings. And you can even sign up to be notified when one becomes available again. In the meantime, the other collection I mentioned is still in stock, so why not get a copy while you wait for this one. Hope it won't be too long, and shame on the American labels for not making this and lots more good country music easier to get on CD!

Music Man was a good album an Black On Black was a fair one; however,this cd package was terrible in quality. It was making noises and skipping by the third play.